Product Description
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For The First Time On DVD, All 72 Episodes Of Garry
Shandlings Groundbreaking First Television Series
. . . audacious, satirical, hip, sophisticated and wonderfully
silly, and often miraculously all of the above at the same time.
TV Guide
Before the Internet, before reality TV, no one saw what
television could be more humorously and with more vision than
Garry Shandling. In 1986 Garry Shandling was poised to become a
permanent guest host on Johnny Carsons The Tonight Show. Instead,
he took a chance on an offer from fledgling cable network
Showtime to create his own television series. No questions asked.
A surreal look at the daily life of a young single man who is a
comedian, Its Garry Shandlings Show was not a typical sitcom:
Shandling would break the fourth wall to include the studio
audience and the viewers at home in on the actual making of the
show. Experimenting with the sitcom form meant inviting the
audience onto the set, playing with the passage of time and
generally exploding the genre and making art of the debris.
Teaming up with Saturday Night Live writer Alan Zweibel, the two
men put on a fourth-grade play every week for four seasons. With
a crew of talented young writers (including Tom Gammill, Max
Pross, Al Jean, Michael Reiss, David Mirkin, who would go on to
write Seinfeld and The Simpsons, and Ed Solomon, who wrote Men In
Black), television history was made. Over the years, guest stars
(playing themselves) included Tom Petty, Rob Reiner, Vanna White,
Red Buttons, Dan Aykroyd, Martin Mull, Gilda Radner (in her last
TV performance), Carl Reiner, Chevy Chase, Red Buttons, Jeff
Goldblum, Don Cornelius, The Turtles, Los Angeles Mayor Tom
Bradley and more.
From its unforgettable theme song to its closing credits, Its
Garry Shandlings Show was award-winning, mind-bending television
for four seasons, and its influence is clearly seen in the best
TV comedies through the decades to follow.
Bonus Features:
* 6 Featurettes With Cast, Crew and Writers
* It Only Looks Easy: Episode Outtakes
* Original Promos
* 18 Commentaries
* And More!
.com
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It doesn't get more meta than Jerry Car's
irresistible theme song to this game-changing 1986 sitcom that
paved the way for The Simpsons and Seinfeld (several of the
writers went on to work on those series), Curb Your Enthusiasm,
30 Rock, and others. Broadcast on Showtime to critical accl
and later on Fox to abysmal ratings, It's Garry Shandling's Show
is an audaciously original self-reverential sitcom starring
Shandling as endearingly vain, insecure, and whiny standup
comedian Garry Shandling, whose life is a sitcom. ""You must lead
a very interesting life,"" someone observes in season 4. ""No, I
don't,"" Shandling responds, ""and it's been a stumbling block
through the whole series."" From the opening monologue in each
episode to asides that thoroughly demolish the fourth wall
between performer and the audience (""You didn't get to meet
Jackie last week because we hadn't cast her yet""), It's Garry
Shandling's Show turns the sitcom format on its head. Most times
the actors go about their business, and other times, their
characters, too, get in on the postmodern act. ""Thanks a lot for
the big part in the show this week, Uncle Garry,"" a character
sarcastically comments in one episode. In other surreal
developments, Shandling one time departs for New York to star in
a new cop series, leaving his show to be fronted by venerable
comedian Red Buttons. At one point, audience members make
themselves at home on the set while Shandling is out, and at the
beginning of season 4, the network president (Richard Fancy, the
future Mr. Lippman on Seinfeld) disapproves when Shandling
announces his new girlfriend (the charming Jessica Harper) will
be joining the cast. He suggests instead that Shandling hire a
butler (a comic premise to which Seinfeld later paid homage when
Jerry and George pitched their own sitcom to NBC in the fourth
season).
Comedy greats, old and new school, from Steve Allen to Martin
Mull and Chevy Chase, appear as themselves. An episode to cherish
is ""Mr. Smith Goes to Nam,"" which features the last television
appearance of Gilda Radner, whose final wink to the camera is
perhaps reason enough to purchase this set. Others include the
prodigious bonus features, including outtakes, a series
retrospective, and very honest commentaries (writers Al Jean and
Mike Reiss likewise express reservations about giving Shandling a
steady love interest, ""a conventional sitcom move for an
unconventional sitcom""). It's Garry Shandling's Show enjoys a
mystique among comedy buffs, but it has not been seen in
syndication or ever been released on home video. How does it hold
up? As Shandling's mentor, comedy club owner Mr. Peck (Danny
Dayton), describes Shandling's first stage appearances, ""It's as
good today as it was in those days."" He did not mean it as a
compliment; we do. --Donald Liebenson"